In order to provide sufficient grounding for some electrical systems, a grounding rod or metallic rod or bar for grounding the system may need to be driven a substantial amount down into the ground, sometimes up to thirty feet or more into the ground. In such situations where the grounding rod must be driven a substantial amount into the ground, multiple grounding rods may be connected together, such that a first grounding rod section may be driven into the ground a certain distance, such as approximately ten feet, and then a second grounding rod section may be placed on top of the first section and driven downward to drive the first section further into the ground. Additional sections may be connected together in a similar manner to drive the lower end of the grounding rod assembly a desired depth into the ground.
Typically, each section of grounding rod is approximately ten feet in length and, thus, extends a substantial amount above the ground at the onset of the driving process. In order to drive the grounding rod or grounding rod section into the ground, a jack hammer is often suspended above the grounding rod, such as via a chain or cable connected to a crane or the like, and activated to hammer or pound or impact the grounding rod to drive the grounding rod into the ground. However, such an approach may cause excessive wear and damage to the jack hammer, because the jack hammer repeatedly impacts the upper end of the grounding rod and may bounce and vibrate as the end of the jack hammer impacts the end of the grounding rod.
Such an approach also typically encounters difficulties in maintaining alignment of the jack hammer with the end of the grounding rod, since the jack hammer is typically suspended from a crane or boom by a hook and chain or line and, thus, is generally free to swing back and forth as the jack hammer impacts and bounces off of the grounding rod. It is also difficult to maintain alignment of the jack hammer with the grounding rod because the jack hammer must be continually lowered by the crane and aligned or repositioned at the upper end of the grounding rod as the grounding rod is driven into the ground. The crane operator thus must substantially continually adjust the position of the crane as the crane and jack hammer are lowered to maintain alignment of the jack hammer with the end of the grounding rod. This is especially difficult because the crane operator typically has to both lower the jack hammer and move the jack hammer laterally to accommodate the arcuate lowering of the jack hammer by the crane. Also, a person or operator typically has to manually hold the grounding rod in place as the jack hammer is hammering or pounding the grounding rod into the ground, in order to limit or reduce misalignment of the grounding rod during the driving process. Such a manual holding operation may be difficult and painful to the operator holding the grounding rod as the grounding rod is pounded and hammered by the jack hammer.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for a grounding rod driving device that is easier to align with the grounding rod and that effectively and efficiently drives the grounding rod into the ground and overcomes the shortcomings of the prior art driving devices or systems.